A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet (Norton Paperback)

Following a military coup in 1973 led by General Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean people lived for 17 years under his dictatorial rule. This study describes the gradual struggle for civil rights and freedoms which took place during that time, leading to public presidential elections in 1990.

"This will stand as the definitive work on Chile under Pinochet for many years to come."—Library Journal

Publishers Weekly

In their rigorous examination of the regime of the ``Franco of Chile,'' the authors describe the 1973 coup that ended the brief socialist experiment of Salvador Allende (the first freely elected Marxist head of state) and explain how Augusto Pinochet came to dominate the junta and attained personal and institutional control ``unrivalled by contemporary military regimes anywhere else in Latin America.'' Based on hundreds of interviews with Chileans of all backgrounds and political views, Constable and Valenzuela chronicle the hate-driven campaign of oppression that sharpened divisions between left and right, rich and poor, civilian and military, and ``turned the state into a monster'' capable of torture and mass killings. The authors also describe the rapid economic development directed by Pinochet's ``Chicago Boys,'' a team of U.S.-trained technocrats who initiated a bold venture into free-market economics that led one segment of Chileans to prosperity while another sank into poverty. Finally, they describe the circumstances under which Pinochet, ``the last of South America's modern-day dictators,'' was forced to step down in 1989. Constable is foreign correspondent for the Boston Globe ; Valenzuela is director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. (Sept.)

"Drawing admirably on their respective talents as a journalist and scholar, Constable and Valenzuela have provided the best overview thus far available of the long authoritarian chapter in Chile's democratic history-its causes, evolution and demise. Written with sensitivity, creativity and verve, it takes up the roles of military officers, lawyers, technocrats, the business elite, politicians and the poor in shaping General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and eventually in making possible the return to democratic life. A compelling account."--Foreign Afairs website (Oct. 14, 2010). "This will stand as the definitive work on Chile under Pinochet for many years to come." Library Journal How Chile, once South America's most stable democracy, gave way to a culture of fear. The authors explain and illuminate the rift in Chilean society that widened dramatically during the Pinochet era. AT 11:52 A.M. on September 11, 1973, two Hawker Hunter fighter jets streaked across the late-winter sky over downtown Santiago, the sprawling capital halfway down Chile's 2,000-mile Pacific coast. Explains how Pinochet took advantage of a stunted Chilean economy and how he used the backing of U.S. anti-communism to transform Chile into a brutal dictatorship Pamela Constable And Arturo Valenzuela. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [321]-356) And Index.